Mobile Devices To Be On Par With Consoles By 2017

Mobile devices have been the center of our everyday lives for a long time. Technology has progressed by leaps and bounds, allowing for more powerful and smaller devices; from computers that covered entire rooms, to computers that can fit inside your palm, all the while being far more powerful than their huge predecessors. Now it looks like mobile devices are aiming to take on gaming consoles.

Speaking during the Casual Connect Conference, Nizar Romdan, ARM Ecosystem Director, revealed that mobile devices are on their way to dominate the current-generation of consoles. According to him, mobile devices will outperform Microsoft Corporation’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Xbox One and Sony Corp. (NYSE:SNE) PlayStation 4 by next year. In a chart shown during the presentation, mobile devices are expected to reach 2 Tera-FLOPS in computing power by the end of 2017.

Mr. Nizar believes that mobile hardware is already better than last-generation consoles and is on its way to catch-up with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Mobile gaming has always been more of a casual experience. There are games that have taken a more sophisticated approach, and the growth mobile segment has seen over the years is significant, to say the least. But the nature of mobile-gaming has been a limiting factor. Battery-life, for example, is the number one factor. It is why smartphones that offer long battery life are always sought out.

Then there is the experience. While they provide entertainment on the go that you cannot physically do with your console or PC, they are still devices in your hand. It cannot match the experience you can get when you lay back on your couch in front of a 50+ inch TV and pick up the wireless controller and immerse yourself in the 7.1 surround sound experience. So while mobile hardware is eventually going to catch up or even outperform current-consoles, they will be limited in their experience.

Mr. Nizar believes that as mobile-devices get powerful enough, they will be able to deliver virtual-reality experience that you can get on PC or consoles.